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September 17, 2007

The final game story

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Ponder this: In his New England Patriots lifetime, Tedy Bruschi has been part of nine AFC Championship or Super Bowl games, and has only lost two of those contests.

But according to Bruschi, last night was the most satisfying win of the emotional linebacker’s professional career.

After New England’s dominating 38-14 win over the San Diego Chargers, Bruschi, who had chosen not to speak all week about the cheating charges leveled against his coach and current and former teammates, let it all out.

"We went through a lot this week. Hearing some of the things that were said about our teams, this team, past teams, this victory was for all Patriots, past and present,” Bruschi said. “I’ve got something to say to all the players in the league who wanted to comment on this: if you’re on past teams and you’ve got doubts and all these hypotheticals, I’ve got a hypothetical for you. Let’s get all the players that played with us (in those games) and get them back. Then get all the players you had and bring them back on your team. And let’s play again. We would win again, period.”

Teammate Ellis Hobbs likened the Patriots to a ticking bomb, set to go off at kickoff last night.

“I think we all had to make a statement. Enough of the talking, enough of the cheating thing, (of the Chargers) taking cheap shots at us off the field. Who cares?” Hobbs said. “We were taking shots all week and holding it in, holding it in. (At kickoff) was when we could let it all go – on the field.”

Let it go, let it all hang out, let the NFL know they weren’t going to tuck their collective tail between their legs after Roger Goodell’s punishment and that they are a team to be reckoned with.

Though not to the degree that they did last year against Minnesota’s outstanding run defense, the Patriots were pass-heavy in the first half against San Diego, and the Chargers basically had no answer for what Tom Brady and the rest of the offense threw out there.

New England started the game in a no-huddle offense and from the opening drive it was evident that Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had come up with a solid game plan.

“We got off to a fast start, which we were talking about all week,” Brady said. “This is a physical team that plays with a lot of energy. Coming out there and putting a touchdown on the board on the first drive (was a positive).”

Randy Moss blew by every defender San Diego put in front of him – and almost inexplicably, he faced a lot of single coverage – and Wes Welker and Brady had the short stuff covered.

Not to be outdone, the New England defense was stellar as well. All-world back LaDainian Tomlinson got nowhere, picking up just 43 yards on 18 carries, forcing the Chargers to become one-dimensional.

And that one dimension? Well, it was flat.

Philip Rivers got away with a couple of ill-advised passes in the face of heavy pressure, and at other times, his protection let him down.

Patriots players didn’t say they were playing for the embattled Belichick, and they didn’t really need to: their honor was on the line as well. Accusations that they hadn’t won games – championships – fair and square clearly hit home.

“I don’t care what people think about our hard work,” said Brady, addressing the scandal for the first time. “I know that I count on my teammates to work hard. I know I show up and prepare as hard as I can. There’s no home video that follows us around (chronicling the hours of offseason work the players do). No one would understand anyway.

“We’re just going to go out and try to play the best that we can for the one statement we can make a week, which is when we play.”

And what a statement last night was. With the eyes of football fans across the country trained on them, they invited arguably the most talented team on paper in the NFL into their house – and then proceeded to whup on them like they were trying to steal something.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:04 AM | Permalink